Southside board lacks transparency

Updated 4:31 pm, Thursday, August 1, 2013

Alma Guzman's colleagues on the Southside Independent School District board have awarded her a settlement in her lawsuit against the district.

Alma Guzman's colleagues on the Southside Independent School District board have awarded her a settlement in her lawsuit against the district.

Photo: Jennifer Whitney, For The Express-News

Southside board lacks transparency

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Southside Independent School District board members have some explaining to do to their taxpayers.

The board voted 4-0 last month to settle, for an undisclosed amount of money, a long-standing lawsuit brought by one of its members even though the district had won the case at the lower court level.

Southside board member Alma Guzman, a former district employee, filed a wrongful termination suit against the district shortly after she was elected two years ago. Guzman claimed gender discrimination and retaliation for her firing as maintenance manager after more than 30 years with the school district.

We have maintained all along that Guzman should never have sought election to the board if she intended to sue the district. Her continued presence on the board represents a conflict of interest even if she may legally be entitled to hold the post.

Having a board member bring a lawsuit against the entity she represents is problematic, and having her colleagues voting to settle her lawsuit after she lost at the district court level is even more troubling.

It is highly usual for defendants in a lawsuit to agree to cash settlement after they have won at the lower court level. Before her election, the old board was seeking to have Guzman reimburse the district for the legal fees it had paid to defend against her lawsuit. The board's decision to reverse course and settle the case is nothing less than stunning.

Even more alarming is the fact that school board members and their lawyers refused to disclose the amount of the settlement saying only that it was “significantly” less than the $600,000 to $850,000 Guzman had sought in earlier offers.

Since May, when a new board majority was elected, the district has demonstrated a total disregard for open government. The board has taken votes with little or no public discussion and refused to discuss district issues with Express-News education reporter Maria Luisa Cesar.

Equally disturbing is the new board majority's vote to place the district's longtime superintendent on suspension without giving him or the public any explanation for their actions. They now have a long-term contract with an interim superintendent without ever having formally voted to fire the former top administrator.

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School boards are elected to represent the public and work in the best interest of schoolchildren in the district, not to operate as secret clubs established to pursue personal agendas.

Regrettably, we have many dysfunctional school boards in our community, such as Southside's, that just don't get it.